Rolling old rails to flat plates



(No Model.)

J REESE.

ROLLING OLD RAILS T0 FLAT PLATES.

No. 350,557. Patented Oct. 12, 1886.

- is G u m WWW 2M i a qg .UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE,

JACOB REESE, OF PITTSBURG, PENNSYLVANIA.

ROLLING OLD RAILS To FLAT PLATES.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 350,557, dated October 12, 1886.

Application filed February 18, 1884. Serial No. 121,201. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

into the upper part of the head.

Be it known that I, J A0013 REESE, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Pittsburg, in the county of Allegheny and State of Pennsylvania, have invented a certain new and useful Improvementill-Utilizing Old Rails in the Manufacture of 'Flat Bars and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description thereof, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 indicates a cross-sectional View of an old rail. Fig. 2 indicates a front elevation of a set of rolls adapted to' reduce the metal at one side of the head and flange of the rail. Fig. 3 indicates a front elevation of a set of rolls adapted to flatten and reduce the blank.

The principal object of my invention is to produce a cheap wide flat bar adapted for the manufacture of she] ps, sheets, nail-plat-es,&c., and free from seams, welds, or folds.

The essential features of my invention are, first, reducing the metal at one side of the head and flange and transferring the displaced metal to their opposite side, and then forcing the sides of the channel-blank so formed out laterally to extend the width and produce a flat bar. These features may be secured by the use of rolls provided with grooves of various forms, but most advantageously by the use of the mechanism I shall now proceed to describe.

In the drawings, A indicates a groove adapted to receive the old rail when the latter is entered on its side. This groove is turned so as to reduce slightly the upper part of the flange, and to admit the flow of the displaced metal, or a part of it, into the lower part of the flange, and also to thin and partially re duce the metal in the inner side of the lower part of the head and allow its upward flow This action on the head is preferable in the first pass, but is not necessary. Its only function is to distribute the metal in the head in such a manner as will enable me to make a deeper flange from the metal in the head during the subsequent passes. The grooves B and O are turned in such a manner as to reduce the upper part of the head and flange and permit the displaced metal, or a portion of it, to flow downward and deepen and thicker. their lower parts.

as to repeat the action of the groovesB and O on the head and flange, and at the same time reduce the web in thickness in a slight degree to give a smooth flat surface to the underpart of the blank. Thegrooves E, F, andG (shown in Fig. 3) are turned of .a suitable form for gradually flattening down the walls of the channel-blank which will be prpduced by the action of the first set of rolls, and thereby bring the metal to the width desired.

The operation of my improvement is as follows: Old rails are suitably heated and passed through the first groove, which reduces the upper part of the flange and thickens and deepens its opposite side, and at the same timeithins the lower. part of the head and widens the lower part of the web, the surplus metal goingu p into the upper part of the head. The bar is then passed into the next groove, which forces the metal down from the upper part of the head and flange into their lower portions. passing the bar through the groove C. It is then turned over and entered into the last groove, which reduplicates this action and transforms the blank into a channel, which is transferred to the flattening-rolls and passed through the grooves E, F, and G, which transform it into a wide flat finished bar."

In rolling old rails into the flat bars, when the groove is made to correspond with the given shape and size-of the rail, the flange may be rolled down without creasing or lapping; but as the size and shape of the flange vary considerably in different forms and weight of rails it is found difficult in practice to produce flats regularly which will not show creases on both sides. Now, as my bars are only rolled down on one side, the other side being filled up and bent over, the finished product will always have, under such circunr stances, one perfect side. In other words, even when irregular patterns or sizes of rails or 9 when defective rails are rolled, the bar produced therefrom will only show a defect on one side, while the other willexhibit a perfectly smooth surface.

Having described my invention, what I This action is then repeated by rolls having passes, the last of which has the claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, V shape of a flat bar, and the precetiing ones A pair of rolls having passes, the first of shaped substantially as described. said passes conforming nearly to the shape of a rail, another to the shape of {L channel-her, and the intervening ones shaped sn'bsi'mitiufll y as described, jointly with a further pair of J A COB REESE.

\Vitnesses:

FRANK M. Rnnsn, \VAL'PER REEsE. 

